Moscow court decision in death trial stirs up racial tensions

After 15 months in jail, world mixed martial arts champion from Dagestan charged with manslaughter of ethnic Russian is released by court decision which has outraged nationalists.

A Moscow court recently gave its verdict in one
of the most high-profile cases of the last few years. Russian combat-sambo
champion Rasul Mirzaev, 26, received a sentence of two years in prison for the
negligent homicide of 19-year-old student Ivan Agafonov.

Mirzaev had spent 15
months in jail prior to the verdict and was released immediately in the court
building after sentencing, since one day in detention counts as two in prison.

In a country where 19 percent of the population
supports the slogan “Russia for Russians!,” and 40 percent believe that this
slogan “should be brought to life, albeit within reason,”* the death of
Agafonov (an ethnic Russian) at the hands of Mirzaev (a Dagestani national),
has caused a nationalist hysteria.

Initially, the sole purpose of the rally, as
stated in the organizers' application for official permission, was to protest
the stricter rules on the possession of weapons. However, organizers decided to
put the Mirzaev case at the top of their agenda.

Organizers also decided not to
drop the weapons issue, in order to avoid accusations of illegal departure from
the stated agenda. During the rally, an official warned those present that the
organizers would face legal action if the stated agenda was not followed.

Interfax has not been able to obtain
information on whether legal proceedings were launched against any of the rally
participants.

“Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky Court has proved yet
again that the life of a Russian in the Russian Federation is worth nothing,”
the nationalist movement Russkie said on its website.

As Kommersant reports, the
sentence was passed as the crowd outside chanted “Shame!” and “You won’t get
away with the death of a Russian on Russian soil!” According to an Interfax
source in law enforcement, “Mirzaev was taken from the court building in a
guarded police van and was delivered to his brother and lawyer.”

The incident between Mirzaev and Agafonov took
place outside of a Moscow nightclub in August 2011.

Friends of Mirzaev and
Agafonov, who were present during the disagreement, gave different testimonies
of the events. The only genuine fact the investigation managed to establish was
that the spat between Mirzaev and Agafonov was caused by Mirzaev’s girlfriend.

Mirzaev punched Agafonov, causing him to fall and hit his head on the pavement.
Agafonov lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital, where he fell into a
coma and later died without regaining consciousness.

Mirzaev turned himself in and was arrested on
charges of willfully causing bodily harm, which resulted in manslaughter. The
charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

In January 2012, the
Zamoskvoretsky Court reviewed the charges and decided that Mirzaev would face a
maximum sentence of two years. In February, the court decided to release
Mirzaev on a bail of 100,000 rubles ($3,240). The decision was reversed by the higher
Moscow City Court the following day, and charges were once again brought under an
article carrying a harsher sentence.

In August 2012, the prosecutor requested that
the court amend the charges to those carrying a less severe sentence. Five
examinations were conducted in order to prove that Agafonov’s death was caused
by his fall and impact, rather than the punch delivered by Mirzaev.

“When the day of the verdict came, I swear to
you, I thought I would lose it… I’m still shocked… I was in a fog, I couldn’t
believe that it was happening,” Mirzaev told Moskovsky Komsomolets after the
verdict was announced.

The victim’s family plans to appeal against the
court ruling. “We did hope that the verdict would be objective,” Oksana
Mikhalkina, Agafonov’s attorney, told Kommersant. “But it turns out that
Mirzaev is innocent, and we need to blame the pavement.”

Each hearing of the Mirzaev case required a
security upgrade around the court building. On Nov. 25, the police had to
cordon off Manezhnaya Square adjacent to the Kremlin, for fear of “possible
clashes between various groups of young people.”

Experts interviewed by the Russian Legal
Information Agency (RAPSI) were split on the ruling. Lawyer Aleksandr Arutyunov
believes that the judge had no option, because the conclusions made by forensic
specialists were clear.

“Naturally, the victims disagree with the decision, but
the court based its ruling on the forensic evidence,” said Arutyunov.

Aleksei Melnikov, also a lawyer, argues that
the verdict is unfair to the martial arts champion. “Even the Soviet criminal
justice system worked out an approach that, if a specially trained person makes
use of their skills in everyday life, the court can’t regard it as negligence,”
said Melnikov.

Aleksei Mikhalchik believes that it is wrong to
put athletes into a separate category. “We can only speak about the direct or
even indirect connection between Mirzaev’s punch and Agafonov’s death if the
offender was aware of the possible consequences,” the lawyer said.

Defense counsel Maksim Dombrovitsky points out
that the case is aggravated by “the ethnic factor,” which is why it has
received so much publicity. “Such cases are not infrequent, but they never get
this kind of coverage,” said Dombrovitsky.

Agafonov could have been the one to face trial
had it not been for the incident outside the club, Kommersant reports.

In May
2011, he was charged with robbery. According to the police, Agafonov ordered
three iPhone smartphones and then robbed the delivery man with his accomplices,
who were cadets at a police academy at the time. Agafonov was not arrested
then, although the court made a relevant ruling. He had been released before
the incident with Mirzaev took place.